Monday, October 27, 2008

The Captain is a little strapped for cash so hopefully I can avoid buying a truck or fishscale. I am following Dave Ramsey's financial advice and not using credit cards anymore. Shout out to halftheman for reaching his goal of a 29bmi. Good job.Now, my team is in place so 230 by new years is in the Bag!!!

Monday, July 07, 2008

I am Down 1.5 pounds since the 4th of July. Now, I have Gotta to get it into gear for the Labor Day Challenge and beat Spidey, Yeldarb and Halfman. Finally, for some additional inspiration here is link with even more videos of manuel Uribe "the world's fattest man"http://www.zonediet.com/OurFaithfulZonerManuelUribe/tabid/181/Default.aspxHe has lost over 400 lbs on the zone diet. Let's give him a finalfifty.com high five!!!!The Captain

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Spidey brought up an interesting point. That you can't drink endless amounts of beer and lose weight. Maybe our favorite bug is wrong? Why not put it in your calorie count for the day? I will do an interview with squirt on Monday and ask him the tough questions. In the meantime here is a pretty cool article addressing the issue

is the "six-pack abs" of your youth now look more like a half-barrel of beer hanging over your belt?

If you’re serious about losing weight, why not consider the low carbohydrate approach? Following the philosophy of today’s most popular low carbohydrate books, dieters initially restrict their daily carbohydrate intake but incrementally move away from the early restrictions of the diet and increase their carb intake while excess weight continues to come off. Successful dieters can eventually resume enjoying starchy foods like potatoes, rice and even pasta…in moderation, of course.

The publication of a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that a comparison between a low carbohydrate diet versus a low calorie diet showed that the "...low-carbohydrate diet produced a greater weight loss (absolute difference, approximately 4 percent) than did the conventional diet for the first six months, but the differences were not significant at one year. The low-carbohydrate diet was associated with a greater improvement in some risk factors for coronary heart disease."

Although both types of diet seemed to achieve similar results after one year, the choice of a thick steak with a green vegetable and a side salad laden with bleu cheese dressing for dinner versus the blandness of a low calorie diet has made the low carbohydrate approach an appealing one for many.

But what about beer? Is it possible to include moderate amounts of regular brewed beer in a low carbohydrate diet? For years, after all, it’s been called "the drink of moderation."

One problem that some real beer drinkers find when trying to shed weight on a low carbohydrate diet is the seeming reliance on light beer with its minimal carbohydrate content. Is it possible to move beyond the early restrictions of a low carb diet and the blandness of light beer and on to one of your full bodied favorites? Not one of the many popular low carbohydrate diet books on store shelves today addresses the possibility of switching from light beers to regular brewed beers while you gradually increase your carbohydrate intake, a normal step in the mid to later stages of a typical low carbohydrate diet.

Why not? If you’re a beer drinker, the answer might be obvious. There are no carbohydrate listings on the cans or bottles of regular brewed beer because a 1993 ruling by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco [and] Firearms states that "…nutrition information on labels [of regular beers] is unnecessary and unwarranted."

As one who has struggled to drop unwanted pounds, and more importantly as a concerned consumer, I question whether it’s right to simply know the carbohydrate and calorie content of what’s in my kid’s sugar-coated breakfast cereal but not know nutritionally what’s in a bottle of Goose Island I.P.A. or a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Bert Grant, better known by some as the man who founded the Yakima Brewing Company, the first microbrewery in the U.S., decided back in the 1990s that he was going to subject his popular Scottish Ale to a nutritional analysis. This decision was reached by Grant because many of his customers had asked him to do. The brewer put this information on the beer’s label. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco [and] Firearms stepped in, however, after Grant began adding this information to the labels of his beer and ruled that Grant’s action was a violation of an old Repeal-era ruling that prohibited beer makers from suggesting that their products were food-like or curative. After a long legal battle and many dollars spent trying to do the right thing, Grant backed down from the Feds but the suits did eventually throw him a bone; ATF said that the brewer could continue to place the carbohydrate and fat content of his beer on the labels of his ale. It was a victory, of sorts, but one that no other brewer has thus far tried to continue.

In March of 2003, however, the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) adopted regulations that, for the first time, will allow alcohol beverage manufacturers to include on their product labels information regarding possible health benefits from the consumption of alcohol. (The TTB has succeeded the ATF as part of the Homeland Security Act). It’s a small step but might eventually lead to a statement of nutritional analysis of all containers of beer, wine and spirits.

For the benefit of anyone who’s considering using the low carbohydrate approach to shedding unwanted pounds, and doesn’t want to wait for some politicians in Washington, D.C. to make up their minds as to whether all beers should have a nutritional analysis statement on them or not, here’s a list of some popular regular brewed beers with their carbohydrate contents. All carbohydrate values are for twelve-ounce servings.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I am back on my 2200 calorie a day plan through the zone macronutrients percentages. Starting over ia a little fun. I should be able to lose this 50 pounds quicker than I did last time(15 months). My goal is to have it all wrapped up before the 4th of July. If the biggest Loser's can do it in a month, I can do it 2 1/2 months. Just a side note. I am happy that AA works for people. However, just because a person drinks some extra beers for a few months doesnt mean he has to go to meetings. This Captain flies solo!!!!C-YA on the flipside

Monday, April 28, 2008

258.8 this morning. More bad news!!! I was out of town for a week and ate to much fast food. Next time I go out of town I am going to bring a scale with me and try to blog with my cell phone. I will be posting daily and resume working out. Congratulations to halftheman for weighing less than captain.Jeff

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Well enough talk it is time to step up to the plate and get to 239 by May 1st. Everything is going well financially, but I have been ignoring what I have been eating. Back to the drawing board.The Captain

Sunday, March 23, 2008

It is a little difficult admitting you hit over 250 after experiencing so much success last year. However, I am facing it head on while having peace on the journey. I am currently listening to Dr. Wayne Dyer's "It's never crowded on the extra mile" It is a very thought provoking CD set. Any comments from the group?The Captain

Friday, March 21, 2008

CMAE correctly pointed out the audio quality is a bit poor for the podcasts. I think it is time for me to empty my piggy bank and pony up for some new equipment. On a positive note I hit 185 lbs 7 times on the bench press 2 days ago!!!The Captain

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Although I did get the 185's up 5 times, I hoping for 10 times since I did 155 17times last week. After the failure of the 185's I do 5 sets of 10 at 135. Weight is up a big, but I am trying to stay positive. I did have a great back and bicep workout yesterday.The Captain

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Monday, March 03, 2008

The Captain is at 241.4. Although my strength is up I am going to start posting my calorie count every day. Today would be off the chart because I had all you can eat pizza hut buffet. Looking forward to the accountability.Jeff

Monday, February 25, 2008

Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Captain skidded to 239 this morning. I fooled myself into think that I was in the low 230's, but facts along with scales are funny things. I ran across this in my email about the relaunch of success magazine. It inspired me to get into gear or face being the next feature for Spidey's blog section for failed weight loss wimps. However, the weight training has never been better with 20 reps of 135 for the bench press. C-YA on the flip side.Jeff

History of Success Unlimited Magazine

We trace our beginnings to 1890, when a fire destroyed 5,500 pages of the writing of Orison Swett Marden, the founder of the first version of the magazine. Marden, orphaned at 7, worked as a "bound-out" servant for most of his early years, until he discovered a book by Scotsman Samuel Smiles called Self-Help. The book made him understand that circumstances could not hold back a person who exercised unshakable persistence and a positive mental attitude. He ran away at 17, and with little preparation and poor reading skills he set out to get an education.

As one of his classmates recalled, "No one ever entered school with less or left with more." He worked his way through New London Academy, Boston University, Harvard Medical School, and Boston University Law School--earning his last two degrees simultaneously in 1882. He did it all while working to feed himself and running boarding clubs for his fellow students.

Marden determined that he would help others after he achieved financial success--and that happened with a chain of hotels by the time he was 32. For the next decade he collected notes of "inspiration and help to strugglers trying to be somebody and do something in the world."

That was when the fire struck, burning down one of Marden's hotels and taking all his work with it. In rapid succession, other parts of his business failed, and he was left with almost nothing. Instead of bemoaning the loss, he decided to reconstruct his favorite manuscript, Pushing to the Front, a collection of the life stories of great men. Sold to Houghton Mifflin, the book was a hit, and the enthusiastic letters he got convinced him to start a magazine.

By 1893, the magazine was going strong. In its pages it celebrated leaders from every profession who had innovated in their fields and had achieved success through persistent effort.

From the first, SUCCESS itself was innovative. It championed the cause of women in business. It pioneered the use of large photographs to illustrate its essays. It commissioned superb artwork for its covers.

Marden's work made him the acknowledged founder of the self-help movement in the United States, and his books have been in print continuously since. At one point, it was estimated that every fourth home in the U.S. had a Marden book in its parlor.

Marden's editorship lasted until his death in 1924, leaving the magazine rudderless. It survived by reprinting Marden's writing until it ran into trouble during the Depression.

Napoleon Hill, a disciple of Marden's, took up the self-help mantle with Think and Grow Rich, based on interviews with the most prominent industrialists, scholars, statesmen, and inventors of the time. In his turn, he became an inspiration to entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, W. Clement Stone was building the insurance company--Combined Insurance Corporation--he had started with $100. Like Marden, Stone was left fatherless at an early age, and like Marden, he was inspired by self-help books--the Horatio Alger stories.

Stone says his success and great fortune are due to optimism and a positive mental attitude. In 1952, Stone persuaded Hill to join him in developing seminars, tapes, and self-help books. The most famous was the bestseller, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.

In 1954, the two relaunched SUCCESS, as Success Unlimited, for the employees and stockholders of Combined Insurance. In 1960, Stone turned to one of his sales associates, Og Mandino, to edit the magazine. Mandino, whose mother died when he was in high school, had wanted to be a writer, but his ambitions were thwarted--first by World War II (he was a decorated combat pilot) and later by not being able to break into the business in New York.

Success will be back on newsstands beginning march 2008 under the new leadership team of Darren Hardy and Deborah Heisz.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Doctors are in the house! Dr. Phil's team of medical experts, including OB-GYN Lisa Masterson, family therapist Dr. Tara Fields, pediatrician Dr. Jim Sears, plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon, and E.R. physician Dr. Travis Stork, come together to address some weighty topics. How many times have you tried to shed pounds but failed? Obesity in America is one of the fastest-growing epidemics. First, meet Kevin, a father and husband who weighs over 700 pounds and spends 95 percent of his day in bed. Cameras follow him on his first-ever plane trip, and you won't believe what it takes to get a man of his size to the Dr. Phil studios. Will the journey pay off, or is this self-proclaimed food addict beyond help? Then, Alfreda was considered obese at 350 pounds, but after bariatric surgery, she now weighs 175. Instead of feeling overjoyed at her dramatic weight loss, Alfreda struggles with rolls and rolls of extra skin. Can she get the body she wants by going under the knife? The Doctors speak candidly on these stories and the top health news of the day. Get in on the discussion!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The captain had a small loss. I started a new program of capping my calories at 2000 for the day. It goes with the formula of taking your body weight and times it by 10. Then take 300 calories off that amount for your total calories for the day. I have a goal of 220 by Feb. 2008Jeff

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The Captain weighed in at 228.9 It shows you what neglect and lack of accountability will get you. I will be weighing in every 2 days and staying focussed on losing the 15 pounds I regained and hitting 199!!! Thanks for all the upbeat posts.Jeff